


With Devils Filled

by OldWomanJosie



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 04:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1141470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldWomanJosie/pseuds/OldWomanJosie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was, once, a Time Lord so thoroughly evil that he had absolutely no redeeming qualities. He was known by many names, but he liked to be called the Devil. Koschei thought the Devil was insanely cool.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Devils Filled

Over the course of history, the Time Lords have appeared as gods in the apochrypa of thousands of worlds and civilizations. The Greek gods of Earth, the Dranzi goddesses of Arcturus, the Weyr idols of Pandora 7, all have their as their inspiration Time Lords and Ladies.

There was, once, a Time Lord so thoroughly evil that he had absolutely no redeeming qualities. He loved to destroy civilizations subtly, to watch people tear themselves apart with biting words and sharp blades. He brought his special brand of destruction to hundreds of worlds before the Council was able to track him down and stop him once and for all. He was known by many names, but he liked to be called the Devil.

All Gallifreyan students were required to learn about the Devil in school. He was held up as an example of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Students were always sufficiently repulsed and horrified by what evil one of their kind could do.

All, that is, except Koschei.

Koschei thought the Devil was insanely cool. That level of power, that cunning, it appealed to him in many ways. He tried to explain his obsession to Theta Sigma once, but the other didn't understand and only looked at Koschei in slightly frightened concern. Koschei kept his ideas on the Devil to himself after that.

Privately, Koschei thought that the Devil must have heard the drums. The sweet, sickening, thundering drums that pounded through Koschei's head day and night. The Devil must have heard them too. Koschei was pleased to have a kindred spirit in this, someone who knew his struggle even if that kindred spirit was evil and long dead. Naturally, Koschei would never become that evil, but study of the Devil had other merits, surely.

But as Koschei studied and he thought and he lived with the pounding of the drums in his skull, the ideas of the Devil didn't look so far-fetched. If Koschei had to live in hell every day, a hell of shattering percussion that never stopped, why shouldn't everyone else share his misery? Yes. Now there was a thought.

Time passed and Koschei became the Master. Theta Sigma became the Doctor. Together they were unstoppable and sometimes when they were in the thick of a battle, the drums faded to an echo and almost seemed to stop. Thoughts of the Devil and his plans were pushed to the back of his mind and nearly forgotten.

Then the Doctor ran away from Gallifrey. Running, just like he always did, leaving behind the Master along with everything else. The Master couldn't fathom this betrayal and suddenly the drums were all he could hear. Once a friend, now the Doctor was an enemy. He just didn't understand. The drums, the Master could see, were the only constant in life. The only thing in life he could count on: a bosom friend and a mortal enemy. Alone in hell with drums only he could hear, the Master decided it was time.

The Doctor had to hear the drums. And if the Master had to become the devil, make a thousand worlds into hell so his old friend could finally hear them...

So be it.


End file.
